After merger with GHMC, Cantonment set to witness massive development

Hyderabad: The cantonment area is set to witness a massive development in construction, sanitation, drinking water supply and others thanks to its merger with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

The Centre had taken a decision to merge the Cantonment board with GHMC, a demand which has been for the last few decades from the people of the area. The Defence Ministry on Saturday had issued a circular to handover the Cantonment areas of the country with the local bodies like Municipal Corporations / Municipalities which also includes Secunderabad Cantonment. With this decision, the civil areas in the Cantonment will be transferred for free into GHMC, which includes assets and liabilities of the board.

The Cantonment Board is spread across 40 sq km, which also has about 350 bastis and colonies with a population of 4 lakh. The people of the Cantonment Board had faced several hardships during all these years as they were under the surveillance of the Defence personnel. However, with the Centre’s decision, the people of the Cantonment will have some relief. A senior official from the GHMC said that the issue of building permissions would be much easier for the residents. Getting a building permission was a daunting task for the residents as it took years to get permission even for renovation of their houses. Now the residents can approach the GHMC for the permission and this would pave the way for massive construction in the cantonment limits. The Federation of Northeastern Colonies of Secunderabad has already demanded the government to deal with this issue judiciously since the matter was the lifeline of this area.

Another issue which would be solved is the drinking water problem. The residents in the area face problems with scattered drinking water supply and now with the merger with the GHMC, their water woes may also end. The issue of the closure of Gough Road would also end for the people of the area. People of the area had faced the problem of closure of Gough Road by the military authorities. This is now going to end for the people residing in the area.

To ease out the traffic problem in the city, the state government had planned for skyways but it could not proceed because of the restrictions. Now the skyways will be taken up and the traffic woes in the areas surrounding Secunderabad are likely to end.